Rotary lawn mowers are known which comprise a wheeled housing, a rigid cutting blade rotatable in a cutting chamber in the housing, and a generally U-shaped handle assembly extending upwardly and rearwardly from the housing for allowing an operator to guide and manipulate the mower. The handle assembly generally includes two, transversely spaced handle tubes joined together at their upper ends by a cross tube forming a hand grip portion of the handle assembly. Desirably, the handle assembly is normally substantially rigid or locked to the housing during normal operation of the mower to allow the user to apply force to the mower through the handle assembly. However, in this normal operational position, the handle assembly, which is quite long, extends substantially rearwardly beyond the mower housing. Thus, the mower takes up considerable room in the garage or other storage location when it is not in use and the handle assembly remains in its normal operational position.
Mowers are known in which the handle assembly can be folded up relative to the housing for storage purposes. Such a foldable handle assembly is usually pivoted adjacent its lower end to the mower housing and is formed in two sections, a lower section and an upper section. Some type of locking means is provided for holding the handle assembly in its normal operational position. However, this locking means can be manually released, the handle assembly can be pivoted relative to the housing until the lower section thereof substantially overlies the housing, and then the upper section of the handle assembly can be folded back over the lower section. U.S. Pat. No. 3,527,469 shows such a foldable handle assembly including means for locking the handle assembly in its normal operational position.
The locking means typically used in adjustable handle assemblies of this general type function by locking both of the handle tubes of the handle assembly relative to the mower deck. If only one handle tube were locked, the handle assembly would twist when the operator pushed on it because the unlocked handle tube could rotate forwardly on the housing relative to the locked handle tube. To avoid this, most mowers and other similar pieces of outdoor power equipment lock or restrain both of the handle tubes so that they remain aligned with one another during use to avoid having the handle assembly twist when the user pushes on it.
However, when it comes time to move the handle assembly out of its normal operational position, the user has to unlock both handle tubes to allow the handle assembly to be rotated out of its normal operational position. Since the locking means is usually at the base of the handle assembly near the spot where the lower ends of the handle tubes connect to the housing, it involves bending down, or getting on one's knees, to manipulate the locking means on both sides of the mower housing to unlatch or release them. This is inconvenient to do. In addition, some operators will forget that both handle tubes need to be unlatched before the handle assembly can be rotated. Thus, such operators may have difficulty in unlatching the handle assembly.
Foldable handle assemblies of the type described above generally have two adjusted positions on the housing, the normal operational position thereof and the fully folded position. It is inconvenient to place the handle assembly into its fully folded position every time the operator is done mowing due to the work required to unlatch the handle assembly, to pivot it forwardly, to loosen the upper and lower sections of the handle assembly, and to then fold the upper section of the handle assembly back over the lower section. It is also necessary to reverse this process before the next use of the mower to place the handle assembly back in its operational position. Thus, as a practical matter, the fully folded position is most often used only for long term storage of the mower over the winter. During the mowing season, many operators simply keep the handle assembly in its normal operational position without bothering to fold it up after each use.
Some mowers are known in which the handle assembly can be moved from its normal operational position to a generally vertical position overlying the rear of the mower deck. This decreases the effective area occupied by the mower to enhance short term storage without requiring that the handle assembly be completely folded up. However, this generally vertical position of the handle assembly is not well suited for long term storage as the upwardly extending handle assembly intrudes into space that might normally be needed for the winter storage of various other items or objects.